Q & A: Dual Intent

Q. I am a Canadian citizen and engaged to a south Korean, we planned on getting married in Seoul then having her return with me to Canada, at which time I would sponsor her to immigrate to Canada. She does not require a visa to enter canada as a visitor, just a passport.

Could she be refused entry to Canada as a visitor if it comes to light that she has only a one way ticket and is married to a Canadian, thus likely to apply for immigration to Canada, or is this OK under the dual intent clause?

Answer: In theory, any visitor – with or without a visitor visa in hand – can be refused admission at a Canadian port of entry if an immigration official is not satisfied that their intentions as a visitor are bona fide. In other words, if the immigration official suspected that the individual would not leave Canada when required to do so, visitor status could be refused.

Simplified, dual intent means that the individual has an intention to remain in Canada permanently, but is visiting in the interim, and would depart if required to do so. Canada does generally allow for such a possibility if the immigration official is satisfied. This may apply in your spouse’s case.

About wpengine

This is the "wpengine" admin user that our staff uses to gain access to your admin area to provide support and troubleshooting. It can only be accessed by a button in our secure log that auto generates a password and dumps that password after the staff member has logged in. We have taken extreme measures to ensure that our own user is not going to be misused to harm any of our clients sites.